Romanoff: W.H. suggested three jobs

The White House acknowledged Thursday that it made overtures to Colorado U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff about a possible administration job as it was trying to steer him away from a primary challenge against Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.

The statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs came the day after Romanoff revealed that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina offered to consider Romanoff for three posts as an alternative to his Senate campaign.

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Gibbs also revealed something Romanoff left out of his own statement, however. He added that Romanoff had applied for a position at USAID during the presidential transition.

In a statement released at 6:25 a.m., Gibbs said Messina did reach out to Romanoff to see whether it would be possible to keep him out of a primary challenge to Bennet, who had the White House's backing.

"Andrew Romanoff applied for a position at USAID during the presidential transition," Gibbs said. "He filed this application through the Transition on-line process. After the new administration took office, he followed up by phone with White House personnel," Gibbs said.

"Jim Messina called and e-mailed Romanoff last September to see if he was still interested in a position at USAID, or if, as had been reported, he was running for the U.S. Senate. Months earlier, the President had endorsed Senator Michael Bennet for the Colorado seat, and Messina wanted to determine if it was possible to avoid a costly battle between two supporters."

Gibbs continued, explaining that Romanoff rebuffed the overture: "Romanoff said that he was committed to the Senate race and no longer interested in working for the administration, and that ended the discussion. As Mr. Romanoff has stated, there was no offer of a job."

Romanoff described his interactions with Messina in similar terms Wednesday evening, but did not disclose that he had applied for an administration job. He also released an e-mail from Messina describing the jobs of deputy USAID administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, director of USAID's Office of Democracy and Governance and director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

Along with his statement, Romanoff included an e-mail from Messina — dated Sept. 11, 2009 — that listed a page-long set of job descriptions for each position he had suggested.

The revelation comes just days after the White House confirmed that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had enlisted former President Bill Clinton to approach Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) about an unpaid position in the administration if he dropped his primary campaign against Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).